Share this with

Broadcasters want the Premier League to crack down on illegal streams. (Picture: Getty)

Premier League officials are in talks with cyber-security in a bid to stop UK residents using illegal online streams online.

With Sky and BT Sport spending £5.1billion between them over the next three years, the broadcasters are keen for the league to crack down on millions of people streaming matches through foreign links.

It’s thought that plans to implement a ‘virtual online barrier’ to stop people in the UK streaming traditional Saturday 3pm games that are not televised live but are commonly viewed worldwide, particularly TV stations based in America, Australia, New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates.

The Times claim that the Premier League have previously worked with Net Result, Irdeto and ID Inquiries, successfully blocking nearly 50,000 streams.

It has been estimated that approximately one million people watch football via illegal streams every week.